Florida Sentinel Bulletin

NEW YORK  — Commuters streaming into New York City on Monday endured long waits and crowded trains, giving the recovering transit system a stress test a week after Superstorm Sandy ravaged the eastern third of the country, with New York and New Jersey bearing the brunt of the destruction.

Trains were so crowded Monday on the Long Island Rail Road that dozens of people missed their trains. With PATH trains between New Jersey and Manhattan still out, lines for the ferry in Jersey City quickly stretched to several hundred people by daybreak.

One commuter in line pleaded into his cellphone, “Can I please work from home? This is outrageous,” but many more took the complicated commute as just another challenge after a difficult week.

“There’s not much we can do. We’ll get there whatever time we can, and our jobs have to understand. It’s better late than absent,” said Louis Holmes of Bayonne, as he waited to board a ferry in Jersey City to his job as a security guard at Manhattan’s Sept. 11 memorial site.

Each year, African American women spend millions of dollars on hair extensions and hair care products, contributing to the multi-billion dollar bottom line of a market that is 90 percent owned and operated by Korean businesses.

In recent years, there’s been an outcry by the African American community calling for an investigation on the Korean domination of the market and many media outlets including Madame Noire have tackled this issue in the past.

In spite of higher-than-normal barriers of entry to entrepreneurship in the Black hair care and weaving industries, veteran companies like Carol’s Daughter, Dudley’s Q and newcomers like Huetiful and curlBOX are working feverishly to reclaim ownership of the brown beauty conversation.

Joining those ownership ranks is Amizade Hair, a new hair extension company founded by friends Michelle Morant and Kendra Austin that launched this past August.

According to Austin, the company provides “quality, affordable, and luxurious virgin hair extensions from around the world, in a range of textures, styles, and lengths,” and hopes to become a go-to brand among extension loyalists who may have traditionally purchased products from a non-Black owned company.

A Navy veteran, who was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer, is claiming she was a victim of police brutality.

Some of the altercation between Stephanie Nickerson, 25, of Durham, North Carolina, and the police officer was caught on dark and blurry cell phone video.

A voice can be heard off-camera, yelling, “Don’t hit her man, don’t hit her. Come on bro, that’s a female.”

Nickerson said police came to her friend’s home Sunday morning after receiving a call about a disturbance, and they wanted to search the house. She told her friend she didn’t have to let police into the residence and that’s when the officer allegedly became aggressive.

Stephanie Nickerson after she says she was beaten by a Durham, North Carolina police officer.

Nickerson says the charge of assaulting an officer is not true.

“You can hear the officer. Even though he has his knee in my back and my face is in the ground, he says don’t hit me, don’t hit me. How am I hitting you when I’m down on the ground, pinned, beat up?” she asked.

Nickerson has filed a complaint with the police department. The incident is currently under investigation.

NEW YORK — The nation’s largest school system lurched to life Monday, with all but the students most affected by Superstorm Sandy making their way back to classes on foot, ferry and subway.

Students at Stuyvesant High School, the city’s most selective school, swarmed out of Lower Manhattan’s subway stations after electricity was restored to the devastated area by the weekend.

“Being cooped up in my house for nine days was not fun!” said sophomore Nathan Mannes. “I did my homework, and when I finished that I played some video games.”

Less than 50 schools throughout the five boroughs remained closed because of structural damage and fewer than 20 were without power, Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters at mid-day. About 16 were being used to shelter people left homeless by Sandy, though most will be relocated by the time those students return Wednesday, he said.

WASHINGTON — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg backed President Barack Obama over Republican Mitt Romney on Thursday, saying the incumbent Democrat will bring critically needed leadership to fight climate change after the East Coast devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy.

The endorsement from the politically independent and nationally recognizable mayor was a major boost for Pres. Obama, who is spending the campaign’s final days trying to win over independent voters whose voices will be critical in determining the winner of Tuesday’s election.

FORT MYERS, FL — Long lines at polling places have been a familiar sight this week, but two hours in line is nothing compared to how long one Fort Myers, Florida woman chose to wait.

For the first time in her 99 years of life, Rosie Lewis cast a ballot.

“She’s an amazing person. 99-years-old and still has her right mind,” said her grandson Nelson Lewis.

In her modest Fort Myers home, she sat in her favorite chair close to the Bible and with her ballot in hand. “I just trust in the Lord to let me go on,” Lewis remarked.

Her life has spanned 24 presidential elections. Yet, this is the first time she’s voted in one.

“She completely understands what she just did,” said her grandson. “My grandmother never forgets anything.”

Family friend Gerri Ware registered Lewis to vote. “I said, ‘Honey, when and where because I will be there,’” said Ware.

Lewis credits the election of Pres. Barack Obama for inspiring her to vote. “I said I’m going to vote if the Lord spares my life this time,” said Lewis. “I made it up to my mind to vote.”

NEWARK, NJ — Newark mayor Cory Booker has won widespread praise in the past of his hands on efforts with his cities residents. When it comes to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, he’s burnished his reputation even further, by offering up his home to victims of the storm.

Hurricane Sandy hit the state of New Jersey head-on when it made landfall on Monday, decimating the Jersey shoreline and knocking out power to over a million people.

In the storm’s aftermath, the Newark mayor has been tweeting non-stop, offering updates on power outages, calming frazzled constituents and checking up on those in need.

And now he’s inviting neighbors without power to seek refuge at his house.

CHICAGO, IL — Chicago police have charged two suspects believed to be involved in the shooting death of a high schooler on his way home from school, News One reports.

Terrence “Jawan” Wright, 18, was shot during a robbery that turned fatal, two weeks ago.

The family of the teen, who was openly gay, believes that he was the victim of a hate crime. “I believe they only did that to him because he was gay,” said his brother.

“For them to say it was a robbery is foolishness because like I said what are they going to rob him of? School supplies or books?,” added his uncle, Tywan Bouldin, who revealed that the youngster was being bullied inside and outside of school. “His shoes or his clothes. He don’t wear stuff like that. So what was the point?”

Jarone Carter, 16, has been charged as an adult for first-degree murder, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and attempted armed robbery. The second suspect, a 14-year-old, has also been charged with murder but his identity is being concealed due to his age.

NEW YORK –  The misery of superstorm Sandy’s devastation grew Tuesday as millions along the U.S. East Coast faced life without power or mass transit for days, and huge swaths of New York City remained eerily quiet. The U.S. death toll climbed to at least 55, many of the victims killed by falling trees, and rescue work continued.

The storm that made landfall in New Jersey on Monday evening with hurricane force cut power to more than 8.2 million across the East and put the presidential campaign on hold just one week before Election Day.

New York was among the hardest hit, with its financial heart closed for a second day. The storm caused the worst damage in the 108-year history of the city’s subway system, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it could be four or five days before the biggest U.S. transit system was running again.

“This was a devastating storm, maybe the worst that we have ever experienced,” Bloomberg said.